Turkey Activities for the Elementary Classroom

It is hard to believe the holiday season is already upon us! Where is this year going? There is always a lot to be excited about during the holidays, parties, treats, dinners, and presents. But it can also be a chaotic time in and out of the classroom! Each year, I want to make sure things go as smoothly as possible in the classroom so I can enjoy the time with my students and not be so stressed. Turkeys are the star of the show in our classroom all November long. There are so many interactive, fun, and engaging turkey activities you can plan for any subject! I hope these turkey activities will allow you to enjoy special time with your students while learning and having fun!

Turkey Activities

Starting with Vocabulary

November is a month all about Turkeys in our classroom and what better place to start than with vocabulary.

This Vocabulary Anchor Chart for November is one of the first things we do at the beginning of the month. The students love learning new words related to the new month. I love hearing them incorporate their new vocabulary into our discussions and conversations.

This November vocabulary includes holidays and special days, historical vocabulary and theme words too. There’s love of great vocabulary connected with November. While these aren’t all turkey related its a great way to kick off the month.

We always start with a whole class anchor chart activity. This allows me time to introduce each word and its definition. We also talk about what we know about these words. Next we move to an individual vocabulary activity that allows students cut and paste vocab activity using lots of words we often hear during time to review and reflect on what they learned. Many times we will do a cut and past vocabulary activity or a matching activity.

Later in the month we might even make our own illustrated vocabulary flip book. This activity gets students using these words and illustrating them. By returning to the words again and again students are able to move these words into their long term memory.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking words are too hard for your young students. If you take the time to explain the words they can get it!

Turkey Activities for Science

Finding ways to weave turkeys into all our class subjects throughout November is always fun! When it comes to animals science is always a perfect starting place for learning.

First, we learn all about the parts of a turkey. This is a fun, cut and paste activity where students will learn and label all the different parts of the turkey. Did you know turkeys have body parts called a wattle and a snood!? Those are fun words to say and the kids think they sound funny too!

We also talk about the life cycle of a turkey. Using the turkey life cycle mini-book is a great way to teach students the details. We read through the book together multiple times through the week. Each day I use questions to check for their understanding. By the end of the weeks students are doing a great job reading on their own. They love taking this mini-book home and teaching their families all about turkeys.

Students will then show what they learned as they create their own turkey lifecycle. This cut and paste activity highlights the 7 different stages of a turkey’s life.

Turkey Activities for Reading

I love incorporating books into whatever theme I am teaching in the classroom, and holidays are no exceptions! There are tons of Thanksgiving books out there to get you through November. I really love the book Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. It is a silly, witty book about a turkey that continuously dresses up disguised as other farm animals to prevent ending up on the Thanksgiving table.

The best part is, I have an entire bundle of hands-on and engaging activities to go along with the book Turkey Trouble! You can check out the Turkey Trouble book activities here.

Here’s some other turkey books that I love to read during November:

• How to Catch a Turkey by Adam Wallace
• Taylor the Thankful Turkey by Sonica Ellis
• Turkey Goes to School by Wendi Silvano (or any of the Turkey Trouble series)

Some books, like Turkey Trouble, we do an entire book study on. Others we use as a daily read aloud. I like to do a combination of fiction and non-fiction books throughout the month.

Turkey Crafts

We love a good craft in my classroom and these turkey crafts are no exception. While the focus is letting students ponder on thankfulness, there are so many other benefits to crafts. Kids also get to work those fine motor skills coloring, cutting, and pasting.

In November thankfulness and gratitude become a theme in our classroom. That is why I love this Thankful Turkey craft. It comes out so colorful and fun. Plus it highlights 6 different things students are thankful for. I love including a picture of the students at the bottom. This is great to showcase on the classroom bulletin board and parents will love to see it once it comes home! It becomes a great keepsake that highlights each student.

Turkey Directed Drawings

I love direct drawings for a fun and interactive activity in the classroom. This turkey directed drawing is filled with so much character. I love that students can work on basic art skills like lines and curves, drawing shapes and adding details.

You can complete this activity as a class by modeling and giving verbal instructions as you draw on the board. Or, use the illustrated step-by-step instructions and let students work independently during centers. In the end, they will have a super cool and very unique turkey drawing to show off!

November Activities Bundle

You can find all of these turkey activities in my November activities bundle. But this bundle includes so much more too! In addition to the turkey activities you will find additional activities related to Thanksgiving, Black Friday, football and more! This November resource is filled with reading and language arts activities, writing, crafts and more! It’s a great addition to your November plans and it will help save time too!

Save These Turkey Activities for Later!

Save these hands-on and engaging turkey activities to your favorite classroom Pinterest board and find them quickly and easily whenever you need a fun idea!